All Questions for

Cypress College

What should every freshman at your school know before they start?

I would advise the then high school senior to research careers and colleges, seek financial assistance and avoid taking breaks.
Choose and narrow down careers you genuinely enjoy. Choose one that feeds your passion and challenges you. Just as one would purchase a house, tour the college, and checkout the community, have a client mentality and ensure you can afford it.
Saving money is challenging and takes determination to master a fundamental skill. Aside from working, there are FAFSA?s, government funding, and scholarships you can apply for. Colleges offer services that assist with tuition and textbooks like The Board of Governor?s Fee Waiver and Extended Opportunity Programs and Services.
Avoid taking a break from school; it?s difficult to return to school when you do. One semester can turn into two or more. Attend college after graduation when you are mentally the strongest.
A high school senior makes life changing decisions. The decision-making process can be stressful, but keep a clear mind; this is your life. Thoroughly research careers and colleges, inquire about financial aid, and avoid breaks from school. Taking heed to this advice will help make a graceful transition from high school onto college life.

If I could go back in time and converse with myself as a high school student, the advice I would give myself about college would be this: socialize. As a highschooler I was never very social. Having grown up a homeschool student, I never had many opportunities to spend time with large groups of people, and so was very introverted. As such I have only a few friends, and although they are true, close friends, I still wish that I could have been more social in high school. Had I been more extroverted in high school, I would have been better prepared to make connections in college. It takes a long time for me to become comfortable conversing with other people. If I could go back and tell myself one thing, it would be to socialize with others. I would tell myself to not be afraid of conversing with others, and to be more friendly. Although I have been fairly successful thus far, I feel that had I been more extroverted, I would have been more comfortable asking questions of my teachers and of other students. For this reason, I would tell my old self to be more sociable.

It seems like only yesterday I was a senior in high school and I didn't have a care in the world. I was comfortable because I knew what my future held for me. I knew what my time and work would amount to. Nothing. Emptiness. But, at the time, I was fine with that because that was what was expected of me. Nothing. I knew my future would be just like my last few years of high school. Wake up early, chit chat with some friends, eat, sleep, and repeat. In my naive mind, I was fine with that. Growing up, I always enjoyed school. But, my accomplishments were blurry in a large family with more intelligent siblings. That feeling was unpleasant. That feeling of being the only who knows you can be great. It only became worse when financial disaster distraught my parents and I was forced to leave my familiar surroundings. At my new school, I altogether stopped trying knowing that I was bound for mediocrity. I would tell my senior self to never give up and believe in my potential. I hope it's not too late to become what I know I can. Greatness.

If I could go back and time and give myself advice the first thing I would tell myself would be to not underestimate the power of a good night's rest. Getting a good amount of sleep is so much more important then it seems. The next thing I would tell myself would be to study everyday in a broken-up pattern instead of waiting until the last minute and trying to rush all of the studying at once. I would also tell myself to not let shyness keep me from asking questions or for help because the only person it hurts is me. Another thing would be to make sure that I use the free tutoring service as much as possible because it really does make a huge difference and keeps you on track. I would also explain how significant it really is to see a school counselor every semester to make sure everything is going according to plan instead of trying to figure it all out on your own. The last thing I would tell myself would be to just have fun, make friends, and enjoy learning. College can be stressful, but it's also a great experience.

I would tell myself not to worry about the money and to shoot for a school that is worthy of your caliber. Going to a community college has been great for saving money, but I wish that i could have had the chance to see what a real university is like. I would also like to warn myself that just because community college costs less, doesn't mean that I have more money to spend on myself like I was hoping. I also wish that i could tell myself to think about what you wanna do more seriously, waiting until the future is the present is not a very effective plan. Don't be afraid to go exploring, and dont forget who your friends are because they'll be there for you when you need them. And don't forget to talk to Mom and Dad, I know you think you can deal with everything yourself, but you can't. You'll find that out soon enough. Oh yeah, and wash your laundry more than once every other week because you really start smelling toward the end of summer, and you better not let that mess things up with Homeslice.

Change is hard. Plain and simple it's painful. But beauty can still come from pain. I would rather choose to live life as an adventure and treasure every moment I do have than fear the moments that change will bring. Change truly is a part of life. Look at the seasons. As fall turns into winter, snow storms arise and life is gray. But as the frostiness of winter melts away into the freshness of spring, life is made new and hope arises. Often our lives can look like winter in the midst of change. It's all bleak and cold with no warmth on the horizon. But if we are willing to embrace change, and trust that spring will come, we will be able to see the flowers and new growth under the patches of snow. Change doesn't mean giving up your past. It doesn't mean loosing the old. Change means learning to grow, learning to embrace your ambitions, and not being afraid of going after your dreams. If you can see the beauty in change, then you can find the courage to turn passionate ambition into reality.

High school is very different than college. I was not a good student in high school, and therefore had bad study habits. I really would have liked to stress the fact that creating good study habits in high school could have helped me with my first few semesters in college. If I had this knowledge back in high school I would have a much better GPA and might have a better chance at getting into the college of my dreams.
I also would have told myself to become more knowledgable about what classes to take. This knowledge is vital to any community college student that is planning to transfer. Without the knowledge of what classes to take students take classes that they do not need, which forces them to stay at the community college longer. Most community college students do not have the money to pay for extra classes they do not need.
Good study Habits and a knowledge of what classes to take are two factors that can make life as a community college student much easier.

I have now been in college since the fall of 2002. Originally I attend UC Irvine, but in the fall of 2005 I dropped out and started attending Cypress College. There were many factors that attributed to my leaving UCI, but the biggest one would have to be my lack of self confidence. If I could go back and talk to myself as a high school senior, I would tell myself that I was accepted to this university for a reason, that it was not just a fluke and that I earned my right to be there just as much as everyone else had.
I would also give my younger self advice pertaining to life in general. I would tell myself that I do not have to find someone to be my source of happiness, but that I need to be happy before I find that someone. I would also tell myself not to be hesitant and to speak my mind. And finally instead of waiting for good things to happen, make them happen in your life.
I could go on and on about what I would tell myself as a high school senior, but these are my 200 words.

College is a time of self-awareness and finding out who you are but that doesn't mean you shouldn't have a plan coming into it. Most students find a school, have a general idea of what they want to do but in reality no one knows what they want. A word to my senior self, pursue that medical career field you so passionately been yearning for. Even though you have a fulfilling life in a career that you do enjoy daily, you always have that naging feeling that you were meant for something else. It's not so much as a regret but a deep seeded interest that you want to experiment with. You have the oppurtunities now but they are much harder to attain. You are in the right place, right now to find that passion before you are unable to put a foot in the door. However, give it some time. Starting out you have time to enjoy some very interesting electives and soon you'll find what really stirs your interests and I'll be right here waiting for you so we can share it together.

If I could go back in time and talk to myself as a high school senior, I would have some interesting things to say about making certain choices in high school. One of the things I would stress is the classes I choose as a senior. I really did not do a good job on that and it did effect me greatly in college. I would tell myself to pick classes that would help me in college and not just easy classes to get me through my last year in high school. I would have told myself to go to the counseling office the first day of school and add these classes; Algebra II and Geology. Adding the Algebra II class would have helped me score higher in my Math Placement test so I could have ended up in Math 40 instead of Math 20. The Geology class is just one more class I needed to help me qualify for the ACG grant which could have got me extra financial aid money to pay for school. This is what I would have told myself if I could go back in time and talk to myself as a high school senior.

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